DVD Walt Disney Treasures - Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts, 1920s - 1960s:
Rate:
Editor: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Disney
Category: Cartoons & Animation - Children - Children's Video - Family - Feature Film Family
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $32.99 Our Price: $24.99YOU SAVE $8!
Buy it
DVD Walt Disney Treasures - Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts, 1920s - 1960s
Disney Rarities lives up to its title: It's been impossible to see many of these shorts for decades. Walt Disney bankrupted his fledgling Laugh-O-Gram studio making "Alice's Wonderland," but the short earned Disney his first national distribution contract. Films featuring animated characters in live-action settings were common during the silent era; Disney reversed the situation, placing a live actress (Virginia Davis) in a cartoon world. The "Alice" series ran from 1923-1926, and several girls played the title role. These silent films have been handsomely restored and given upbeat musical tracks by Alex Rannie.
The Oscar-winners "Ferdinand the Bull" (1938) and "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom" (1953) rank as genuine classics, and have been unavailable for far too long. The wartime cautionary tale "Chicken Little" (1943) displays more imagination than the 2005 feature adaptation of the same story. "The Truth About Mother Goose" (1957) reflects the influence of Sleeping Beauty (1959), which was in production then; the elephants in "Goliath II" (1960) anticipate the ones in The Jungle Book (1967).
"Noah's Ark" (1959), Disney's first stop-motion film, features cleverly designed animals made from pencils, erasers, corks, pipecleaners, and other found objects, but the obstrusive '50s songs quickly cloy. Many of the films from the '50s and early '60s ("Pigs Is Pigs," "A Cowboy Needs a Horse," "Paul Bunyan" ) reflect the look of the UPA Studio. The characters are flatter, simpler, and more angular; the backgrounds, more stylized. Although Disney had dominated the cartoon short during the '30s, the studio largely shifted to feature and television production during the '40s and '50s. Disney Rarities is a set fans and students of animation will want to own. (Unrated, suitable for all ages: cartoon violence, tobacco use, ethnic stereotypes) --Charles Solomon
Review(s): DVD Walt Disney Treasures - Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts, 1920s - 1960s
Pictorial Quality versus Entertainment Quality - a review of the Disney 'Rarities' DVD's
No doubt the critics of the quality of this supposedly 'remastered' DVD are correct. I have certainly found them to be accurate in the past.
HOWEVER, I still have to give these two DVD's five stars; but I do it from the standpoint of a mother reviewing this collection for other caregivers of younger children. [Mine are boy and girl; 4 and 6 respectively.]
This DVD provides hours of good entertainment. It also serves to give children a historical prospective to animation. They can see from the Alice series where the industry began. Then they can watch it evolve to brilliant color and wonderful stories like Windwagon Smith and Paul Bunyan.
And no, at a young age, children probably won't understand the significance of the influence of WWII on animation, or life in the U.S. and elsewhere, but it can lay the groundwork for such a time line. It also links them with their grandparents. I don't know about other folks, but now my six y.o. can talk to her grandfather and grandmother about Ferdinand the Bull and Chick Little since they are all movie shorts they have all watched.
Five Stars. The quality of the 're-mastering' is in question, but the entertainment value is not.
Some History
When Walt Disney was just starting out he worked for an advertising agency in Kansas City drawing theatrical cartoon ads and experimented with stop-action animation in his spare time. His first animation venture "Laugh-O-Grams" was unsuccessful but its last gasp before going out of business was an unfinished one-reel (12 minute) cartoon called "Alice's Wonderland".
Max and Dave Fleischer had already introduced a cartoon series called "Out of the Inkwell" which superimposed animated figures on real film backgrounds (allowing a live actor to interact with a cartoon character). Walt borrowed this idea for the first segments of "Alice's Wonderland" and for the later segments he reversed it and superimposed a live actress (Virginia Davis) on an animated background. Virginia's mother let them shoot the live scenes in her house with Virginia's aunt playing Alice's mother.
The film begins with little Alice visiting an animation studio, where Walt and Ub Iwerks are working. They show her some scenes on their drawing boards and these turn into moving cartoons, which interact with live things in the studio. The best is a cartoon mouse (imagine that) poking a live cat until it moves. Although everything was silent in 1923 some music was later added to the production.
Back home from her day at the studio, the sleeping Alice dreams of taking a train to cartoon-land. She appears in live action superimposed on a cartoon background and interacts with a variety of cartoon animals. Finally, she jumps off a cliff and after falling for a while wakes up in her own bed.
Walt ran out of money before "Alice's Wonderland" could be finished and his company was disbanded. He moved out to Los Angeles and eventually sent what had been completed to an independent cartoon distributor in New York who contracted for a series of Alice cartoons.
Virginia Davis joined Walt in California and they began cranking out the series. Eventually there would be 56 Alice cartoons although Virginia was eventually replaced over a pay dispute.
"Alice's Wonderland" was probably never really completed. It appears that at some point they reassembled it to provide an ending (basically just a repeat of an earlier scene in a different context). It is also likely that the falling scene was originally intended for a rabbit hole entrance to Wonderland at the start of the dream sequence, but was moved to the end to substitute for the unfinished portion.
"Alice Gets in Dutch" is another early example of the series but Disney had already figured out the basic economies of the cartoon business. It was far cheaper in those days to film live action than to draw the 12 frames per second needed for good animation, and the first half of "Alice Gets in Dutch" is live action. Of course the reverse is true today as computer animation is now cheaper than filming live action ("Ultraviolent" is actually a return to the silent film days where Fleischer's live characters interact with animation).
The short begins with Alice in a classroom where she is blamed when an exploding balloon covers her teacher's face in ink. Alice is banished to a stool in the corner and given a Dunce Cap (when is the last time you saw one of those). She falls asleep and dreams she is outside the schoolhouse dancing with a bunch of cartoon animals. A cartoon version of her teacher (with devil's horns) comes outside the break up the fun. Trailing behind as her assistants are three animated books; labeled reading-writing-arithmetic.
The two sides shoot cannons at each other with inconclusive results until a cayenne pepper charge cause the books to sneeze until they are just piles of pages. But the next charge backfires and Alice and her pals begin to sneeze.
Although crudely drawn the animations do convey a bit of personality and Virginia Davis does a great job with her part.These silent cartoons are surprisingly entertaining. More importantly, Alice qualifies as Disney's first enduring character and the Alice series was his first successful venture.
By the time of "Alice's Mysterious Mystery", Margie Gay had replaced Virginia. To disguise this charge, Disney eliminated tight shots of the live character and went entirely with wide shots. The economics of the animation business had begun to dictate quality and quantity; meaning the stories were cut to one reel (six minutes) and the animation far less elaborate. In spite of this the characters in "Alice's Mysterious Mystery" still convey some personality.
"Alice's Mysterious Mystery" is about as bizarre a story as you are likely to find. A mouse (not Mickey) and a bear supply a sausage factory with dog meat; first they pose as dogcatchers and capture a schoolhouse of puppies, then an attractive female dog lures male dogs to the factory window where the cat and bear open a trapdoor which whisks them into the basement. A helper down there hits them with a mallet and deposits them in cells. Then he takes them into a killing room and presumably stuffs them into sausage skins (I'm not joking this really happens).
Adding to the surreal quality of the thing are the Ku Klux Klan hoods and robes worn by the bear, mouse, and the basement henchman. Alice and Julius the Cat eventually save the day but not for those who have already been made into sausage.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Remember the Era of GOOD entertainment?
I enjoyed many of these classics from childhood on "the wonderful world of disney". But that is not the only reason for collecting this DVD.
Walt Disney left an amazing legacy with his innovations which have paved the way to where Animation is today. On this disc are many styles of animation (cut-out animation, limited animation, and more).
Personally the "Alice" series on this disc (other than for historical reference) was not my favoriate. However this was the way animations were done in teh late 20's as the Animation industry was in its infancy. Even though the "alice" shorts were not as entertaining, the other animated shorts make up for it.
If you have ever studied Walt Disney there are many referemces to his short "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom". The pictures in those books don't do justice to the actual film on this disc.
The "Chicken Little" short was one that was my least favoriate. Watching it doesn't really have all the disney-style gags and is best discribed as a Warner Brothers quality.
My favoriate is "A Symposium on Popular Songs" with your host "von drake" One of the best characters Disney created (goofy professor with a unique way of mixing up words. I love his dialogue).
Everyone knows Disney told excellent stories yet lets talk about image quality: I love how this video has not been "remastered" and tweaked to look like modern day animation. The animations on this disc are all in color (with exceptions to "alice" shorts which were in B&W). But don't be fooled by those that claim this video needs remastering. While watching EVERY show on this disc I never noticed "scratched-film" lines or deteriorated video. these videos are crisp, unscratched, unmarked and a pure joy to watch. Even the audio is CLEAN, CLEAR and easily understandable!
About Technologies:
Technology was different in the 1960's compared to our HiDef 16:9 dolby digital 5.1 surround-sound home theatres many of us have. While watching these shows, expect sound from both left and right speakers and a picture of 4:3 aspect ratio video (that is traditional TV withouth HiDef, Widescreen).
If I had the chance to review the animations on this disc before I purchased it I know that there would not be any doubt in my discisions to buy it.
Related DVD's Walt Disney Treasures - Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts, 1920s - 1960s
The Disney treasures collection is the best and cheapest way of getting the entire series to their golden age shorts.
I must warn you not to buy any of these mini DVDS if you are someone who would love the full collection being the mini DVDS are just repeats or shorts due on future disney treasures.
Donald Duck has Stared in 165 shorts in total from 1934-1967
Below is a complete list of all his appearnces. it comes in 4 collumns: first the episode number, then the date, then the official clasification of the series it comes under, then the title.
All ones clasified as mickey mouse are seen in the 4 Volumes of Mickey mouse in the treasures. but their is one clasified as mickey not seen in mickeys collection being it does not star mickey which you will... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Dick Lundy DVD Release Date: 06 December 2005
List Price: $32.99 Your Price: $23.09YOU SAVE $9.9!
Buy it
Swamp Fox was great. But why release only 3 of the 8 episodes? Why not a seperate set for each show with all of the episodes? Please, disney, gives us the whole series! My fuzzy VHS tapes off of TV are getting old! More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Lynn Bari DVD Release Date: 06 December 2005
List Price: $32.99 Your Price: $23.09YOU SAVE $9.9!
Buy it
I really want them to release the "Annette" series. That was my favorite. Also, wouldn't mind seeing Darlene Gillespie's series, "Corky and White Shadow." More Info about this DVD Director(s): William Beaudine DVD Release Date: 06 December 2005
List Price: $32.99 Your Price: $23.09YOU SAVE $9.9!
Buy it
The second set of Silly Symphonies completes the series of music-themed cartoons Walt Disney began in 1929 with "The Skeleton Dance." Disney used these films to train his artists and to experiment with new techniques and visual styles. Viewers who watch the Symphonies in chronological order can see the artists' work improving at an astonishing pace. When a ring of imps dances around a fire in "Hell's Bells" (1929) the flat-looking flames move stiffly, like paper cut-outs; five years later in "The Goddess of Spring" (1934), the flames ripples and crackle, and their changing hues produce multi-colored shadows on the cavern walls. The imps in the earlier film are rubbery golliwogs who just bounce and stretch to the music; in the later film, the rounder, more dimensional... More Info about this DVD Director(s): David Hand - Walt Disney - Ub Iwerks - Wilfred Jackson DVD Release Date: 19 December 2006
List Price: $32.99 Your Price: $22.99YOU SAVE $10!
Buy it
Around this time of year, I always check out 'Disney treasures' on the Amazon search to see what my favourite studio is treating me to for Christmas. I am not disappointed this year.
Volume 2 of The Complete Pluto was always going to happen and is most welcome. No news yet on content and extras but its fair to say that they should be up to the excellent standard of the previous volumes.
More Info about this DVD Director(s): Charles A. Nichols DVD Release Date: 19 December 2006
List Price: $32.99 Your Price: $23.09YOU SAVE $9.9!
Buy it
